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general rule, Gen Conway said, the
necessary components of a stable society
are economic growth, sufficient arable
land, access to water, people who can be
educated, products that can be exported,
and political leadership. He noted that
Iraq has all of these components.
Commandant’s Remarks
Gen James Conway, Commandant,
U.S. Marine Corps
Gen Conway described at length his
understanding of Al Qaeda’s strategy, by
which it hopes to force everyone to
convert to its version of Islam. He
outlined his concept of the threat that Al
Qaeda still poses to Western interests.
Al Qaeda has phased operations that
include removing all Western influence
from the Middle East, turning its
followers against Middle Eastern
governments that have been dealing with
Western governments, bankrupting the
U.S. economy, destroying or controlling
all oil in the region, destroying Israel,
and finally, attacking Western Europe
and the United States.
The Commandant expressed his growing
concerns relating to Iran’s influence in
Iraq. Iran’s Hezbollah model is being
exported to Iraq and Afghanistan, which
enables Iran to use proxies against
Coalition forces. Gen Conway noted that
Iran’s President has also been
increasingly vocal about his intention to
fill any void left by a U.S. withdrawal
from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Improving the economic situation in Iraq
is the Coalition’s next achievable step
and is one of the essential components of
national and regional stability. As a
Gen Conway then noted that there had
been considerable discussion and
planning regarding the pacing of a U.S.
troop drawdown from Iraq whenever
that takes place. While the Joint Staff
has considered many possible scenarios,
he said that in his view, the most likely
one would be expected to take
approximately 20 months. He remarked
that the extended war is causing
significant strain on the military, and
there is a strong desire to transition
much of the responsibility for Iraq to
Iraq’s security forces.
Of the many lessons learned from
operations in Iraq, Gen Conway noted
that one of the most important is the
need for additional interagency
personnel who can take responsibility
for jobs that should not belong to the
military. These lessons will be central to
the development of AFRICOM, which
he foresees will become a combatant
command divided between interagency
personnel and the military.
Looking to future Marine Corps
operations, the Commandant said that
several possible scenarios are being
considered. He said that he favors a
significant change in the “stance” of the
Marine Corps by moving the Marine
Corps out of Iraq totally and into
Afghanistan, where the Marines Corps’
ability to maneuver and operate in
difficult terrain would be put to the best
use.
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